BENGALURU: Former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday suggested to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah not to reduce allocation for capital investment in his budget, and also not to burden the people by hiking taxes.
“The state government should implement the five guarantees without imposing more taxes on the people and without raising more loans, or they will turn out to be anti-people guarantees,” he said, responding to the Governor’s speech in the assembly.
He claimed that post the pandemic, Karnataka’s economic situation has improved. “I had presented a surplus budget as we received good revenue, so on the pretext of implementing the guarantees, tax hike should not be imposed. Since almost half the financial year is over without the guarantees, as the government has already applied certain conditions, they could be managed with an allocation of Rs 25,000 crore,” he said.
GST collection has increased, and so have taxes, including sales tax, commercial tax, excise, stamp duty and motor vehicles’ tax, and the government doesn’t need to borrow more loans, he said, adding that Karnataka’s Gross State Domestic Product stood at 9 per cent, while the country’s GDP is at 7 per cent.
“I have presented a surplus budget with a fiscal deficit of 2.7 per cent, with a scope for borrowing Rs 78,000 crore. The money allocated by our government can be used for infrastructure development, irrigation projects, besides education, agriculture and service sectors,” he advised.
“You said implementation of the guarantees will cost Rs 52,000 crore. However, since everything is conditioned, it should cost only about Rs 20,000-25,000 crore,” he told Siddaramaiah, and wished him to showcase his expertise in his 14th budget.